Research Article Global Media Journal 2016 ISSN 1550-7521 Vol. 14 No. 26: 26 Gender-Based Portrayal as Media Souraya El Badaoui* Form in Society Mass Communication Faculty, Cairo University Egypt Abstract *Corresponding author: Souraya El Badaoui This paper aims to explore how traditional media form the perception of gender role and attributes through the TV social drama. Methodologically, the analysis is based on data sample that consists of 200 Egyptian students in both national and [email protected] private universities. As a crucial method of collecting and analyzing the selected data, a questionnaire was designed based on specific criteria. Among these Mass Communication Facutly, Cairo criteria is to consider the social diversity in the Egyptian society as mirrored in the Uiversity, Egypt. data population, namely the two socially different types of education institutions. The overall finding of the analysis suggests that there is an underlying impact of Tel: 20 2 35676105 the regular exposure to traditional media on portraying a social image of gender, particularly women. Keywords: Social power of media; Gender-based analysis; Egyptian social diversity; TV drama; Feminism and sociology Citation: Souraya El Badaoui. Gender-Based Portrayal as Media Form in Society. Global Media Journal. 2016, 14:26 . Received: Februaury 16, 2016; Accepted: June 13, 2016; Published: June 23, 2016 Introduction of rape myths among male undergraduates [3,4]. Consistently, survey research indicates that more regular exposure to TV genres As a recognizably distinct field of academic research, gender such as soap operas and music videos-which typically deal with studies dates back to at least the 1960s in Anglo American sexual content and sexual feelings or impulses; Media Report countries, emerging within the disciplines of psychology, to Women 2001-is associated with more stereotypical sexual sociology, linguistics, and anthropology, among others. attitudes, with dysfunctional beliefs about relationships, and Insights from these disciplines provided a formative basis for with greater acceptance of sexual advances, especially among the establishment of gender studies in mass communication, women and adolescent girls [5]. Likewise, Ward [6] has found primarily from the 1970s onward. Until the 1980s, it has generally that, regardless of exposure levels, young women exposed to assumed that media studies of gender would have its central prime time TV images depicting men as sex-driven and women as focus on the interrogation of images of women in the media. sexual objects showed stronger endorsement of such stereotypes However, as the twentieth century came to a close, gender than did women exposed to control clips. Other experimental researchers became increasingly interested in analyzing the ways results support these findings, showing that women exposed to in which men and male sex roles were portrayed, and began to sexual and sexist media content manifest stronger endorsement explore how communication systems and processes contributed of stereotypical attitudes about sex than do women exposed to to the construction of different forms of masculinity [1,2]. From nonsexual content [6,7]. In a similar vein, research drawing from another hand, there is little dispute about the assertion of the priming and schema theories [7,8] has demonstrated that even significant role that the mass media play in the transmission viewers’ interpretation of ambiguous stimuli and impressions of dominant cultural values, especially in the perpetuation of about real-world men and women interactions may be affected images of gender difference, roles and gender inequality. Given by the nature of the TV content just watched. that the media construct and utilize gender stereotypes to maintain gender inequality, it is important to examine the ways in The general theory that the new media is somehow "gendered" which such powerful institution, i.e. traditional media represents encompasses many possibilities. For instance, the Internet may or forms the gender-based role in society. appeal differentially to men and women because of stereotypes signaling that computer technology is more appropriately male In this regard, there is evidence that exposure to TV social drama than female [9-11] Some theorists argue that male values have and different advertisements featuring women as sexual objects been institutionalized in the technology through its creators, produces stronger acceptance of gender-role stereotyping and embedding a cultural association with masculine identity in ` This article is available in: http://www.globalmediajournal.com 1 ARCHIVOSGlobal Media DE MEDICINA Journal 2016 ISSNISSN 1550-7521 1698-9465 Vol. 14 No. 26: 26 the technology itself [12]. In the terminology of Green, Owen, Bem’s sex role index assesses degrees of masculinity, femininity, and Pain (1993), the technology may be "gendered by design." and androgyny, yet gender in this theoretical perspective rests A weaker variant of this claim is that content on-line tends to on society insistence on a gender dichotomy. Bem’s gender favor male interests and styles independently of any intrinsic schema theory provides a useful starting point when considering properties of the underlying technology.This paper consists gender identities-both performed and within media discourse- of six sections. After this introductory section, the theoretical assist in sense making. It serves as means for understanding how framework adopted in the present study is outlined in section gender is learned, presented, and perceived and how female/ 1. This is followed by the research questions in section 2. Then male relations are structured through gender-role stereotypes in section 3 describes the methodological aspects and criteria that society. were set out as analytical bases. After that, the results of the However, media audience may also play a crucial role in sustaining study are presented in section 4, followed by a deeper discussion such typecasts by favoring stereotypical information and/or by in section 5. Before listing the references, the conclusion is selecting information stereotypically. When it comes to drama for outlined in section 6. example, media users clearly show different information seeking behaviors depending on their socio demographic characteristics Theoretical Framework: Feminist, Gender such as sex, age, psycho-social context and level of education. and Media Studies For instance, sex differences in T.V drama preferences have long occurred and been observed internationally. Some of the earliest media research in the field of gender studies looked at the ways in which sex role distinctions-or the false The range of issues currently under scholarly scrutiny represents belief that women and men are innately different-are portrayed, such developments in feminist thinking both inside and outside for example in the press, television, women magazines, and film. the academic field, reflecting the wide array of media, topics, and theoretical and methodological approaches that now Much of the gender research has been grounded in assumptions shape the field of gender and feminist media studies research. about individual acquisition of gendered attitudes and behaviors, These include discussions around the growing sexualization of and the ways in which socially constructed gender roles can media representations of women and girls, post-feminism [16], negatively impact on individual life chances, especially in terms representations of men (including gay men and transgender of one’s sense of self-worth, social perceptions of women, individuals) in the media the gendering of war and conflict and women career prospects. Here it has been assumed that [17], girl culture, cosmetic surgery, cyber-feminism and new portrayals of women in the media that depict them as mentally communication technologies, transnational feminist media and physically less able than men, or where their beauty, sexuality, studies, sexual violence and media [18]. or domestic service are the aspects that are the most highly valued in them, will hold women back from achieving individual Research Questions (career, wealth, personal) success. The above mentioned theoretical background in mind, the present Early research in media studies, especially on television study tries to answer an overarching research question, that is: to social serials, showed that women were rarely portrayed and what extent the can media form social attitude portray a mental that, when they were, such portrayals tended to be heavily image of male and female as a social actor? This question could stereotyped. There has been a growing interest in the field of be divided into the following research questions: gender studies in making global comparisons around, to take one 1) What gendered roles and attributes that could be example, the extent to which women appear as news reporters constructed fromstudents’ perceptions due to watching and news subjects so as to judge the extent to which women TV social serials in Egypt? voices are making a contribution to democratic political systems 2) What are the social underlying factors that have formed [13]. Additionally, more-specifically-focused forms of feminism the mental image of students of male/female’s social roles have emerged recently for instance, in the US, examples include and attributes? Latina, black, and Asian feminist theory. Elsewhere, various forms 3) How could such portrayal be interpreted in the light